iShares Expands Its Minimum Volatility ETF Suite to Help Investors Seeking to Weather the Ups and Downs of the Stock Market

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BlackRock, Inc. BLK today announced that its iShares® Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, the world's largest manager of ETFs, launched three new minimum volatility ETFs designed to help investors manage risk in their portfolios. The new ETFs build on the success of the original iShares Minimum Volatility ETFs, which launched in 2011 and have nearly $7 billion in Assets under Management (AUM), and aim to provide lower risk alternatives to international exposures.

The new ETFs are:

- iShares MSCI Europe Minimum Volatility ETF EUMV

- iShares MSCI Japan Minimum Volatility ETFJPMV

- iShares MSCI Asia ex Japan Minimum Volatility ETF AXJV

Patrick Dunne, Head of iShares Global Markets and Investments at BlackRock, said:

“Volatility has generally increased over the past decade and investors are wondering how to adjust their portfolios to help minimize this risk, while still meeting their long-term goals. The traditional ‘safe havens' of cash and government bonds have not provided much of an alternative, with returns at or near historical lows. BlackRock with its long heritage of product innovation created iShares Minimum Volatility ETFs to provide investors the opportunity to remain in the market while seeking to minimize the market's peaks and valleys. These ETFs can provide a complement or alternative to the core indexed portfolio, potentially improving risk-adjusted returns over the long term.”

The iShares Minimum Volatility ETFs are designed to track the Minimum Volatility Indices by MSCI, one of the world's largest and most well-established index providers and the gold standard for international investing. The Indices seek to capture the movements of broad equity markets with a reduced amount of risk. MSCI constructs an optimal mix of less volatile stocks by examining the respective parent market capitalization-weighted MSCI Indices, evaluating the volatility of each individual stock and the correlations between stocks, all while applying a number of constraints to ensure the portfolio is sufficiently diversified and maintains the main characteristics of the broad market index. The application of constraints is important in making sure the index isn't too heavily concentrated in one industry or country, which could create additional unintended risk.

About BlackRock

BlackRock is a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients worldwide. At March 31, 2014, BlackRock's AUM was $4.401 trillion. BlackRock helps clients meet their goals and overcome challenges with a range of products that include separate accounts, mutual funds, iShares® (exchange-traded funds), and other pooled investment vehicles. BlackRock also offers risk management, advisory and enterprise investment system services to a broad base of institutional investors through BlackRock Solutions®. Headquartered in New York City, as of March 31, 2014, the firm had approximately 11,500 employees in more than 30 countries and a major presence in key global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and Africa. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.blackrock.com.

About iShares

iShares is a global product leader in exchange traded funds with over 600 funds globally across equities, fixed income and commodities, which trade on 20 exchanges worldwide. The iShares Funds are bought and sold like common stocks on securities exchanges. The iShares Funds are attractive to many individual and institutional investors and financial intermediaries because of their relative low cost and trading flexibility. Investors can purchase and sell shares through any brokerage firm, financial advisor, or online broker, and hold the funds in any type of brokerage account. The iShares customer base consists of the institutional segment of pension plans and fund managers, as well as the retail segment of financial advisors and high net worth individuals.

Carefully consider the iShares Funds' investment objectives, risk factors, and charges and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Funds' prospectuses and, if available, summary prospectuses, which may be obtained by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or by visiting www.iShares.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

Transactions in shares of the iShares Funds will result in brokerage commissions and will generate tax consequences. iShares Funds are obliged to distribute portfolio gains to shareholders. Shares of the iShares Funds may be sold throughout the day on the exchange through any brokerage account. However, shares may only be redeemed directly from a Fund by Authorized Participants, in very large creation/redemption units.

International investing involves risks, including risks related to foreign currency, limited liquidity, less government regulation and the possibility of substantial volatility due to adverse political, economic or other developments. These risks often are heightened for investments in emerging/ developing markets or in concentrations of single countries. The iShares Minimum Volatility ETFs may experience more than minimum volatility as there is no guarantee that the underlying index's strategy of seeking to lower volatility will be successful.

The iShares Funds are distributed by BlackRock Investments, LLC (together with its affiliates, “BlackRock”).

The iShares Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, issued, sold or promoted by MSCI Inc., nor does this company make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in the Funds. BlackRock is not affiliated with the company listed above.

© 2014 BlackRock. All rights reserved. iSHARES and BLACKROCK are registered trademarks of BlackRock. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. iS-12626-0614

BlackRock, Inc.
Christine Hudacko, 415-670-2687
Christine.Hudacko@blackrock.com
Melissa Garville, 212-810-5528
Melissa.Garville@blackrock.com

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Posted In: Press Releases
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